News ReleaseFrom Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship CanadaPotential sponsors will soon have the opportunity to express their interest to sponsorDecember 22, 2017 – Ottawa, ON – Canadian citizens and permanent residents will soon be able to take the first step in applying to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada, when the Parents and Grandparents Program reopens in 2018.Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) introduced a new process in 2017 for application intake for sponsoring parents and grandparents to make it fairer and more transparent for applicants. Now, potential sponsors must first notify IRCC that they are interested in sponsoring their parents and grandparents by submitting an “Interest to Sponsor” form. Using a random selection process, IRCC will then invite potential sponsors to apply to sponsor their parents and grandparents.Today, the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, announced that the “Interest to Sponsor” form will be available at noon EST on January 2, 2018. Those who wish to apply to sponsor their parents and grandparents in 2018 must first fill out this online form. It will be available until noon February 1, 2018.To help ensure the efficiency of the system and to allow as many eligible sponsors as possible to bring their parents and grandparents to Canada, it is important that only those who meet the sponsorship eligibility requirements submit an “Interest to Sponsor” form. Additional questions have been added to the 2018 version of the “Interest to Sponsor” form to help potential sponsors self-assess whether they are eligible to sponsor.

November 17, 2017 – Ottawa – Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) is expanding its Visa Application Centre (VAC) Network in China, increasing its geographic reach as Canada looks for new ways to support the growth in applications. So far this year, more than 500,000 applications have been received from China, a 15 per cent increase from 2016.

By offering greater flexibility and accessibility for Chinese travellers, Canada continues to demonstrate its commitment to a growing cultural exchange between the two countries.

Canada’s Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship, Ahmed Hussen, attended the opening ceremony of a VAC in Nanjing this week to mark the opening of seven new centres located in Chengdu, Hangzhou, Jinan, Kunming, Nanjing, Shenyang and Wuhan. They join the existing network of VACs in Beijing, Chongqing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

These new VACs will play an important role in meeting the growing demand for visas for Chinese residents.

VACs offer support to applicants before, during and after their temporary resident visa application is assessed by an IRCC officer. VAC service agents are available by phone, email or in person to answer questions in local languages and to make sure that applications are complete.

As ties between Canada and China continue to grow, IRCC remains committed to making it easier than ever for Chinese residents to apply for a visa.

To this end, a new pay option will also be put into place beginning in early 2018. IRCC will begin accepting payments through UnionPay, one of the largest payment processing providers in China.

This improved flexibility will make it easier for travellers to come to Canada, and by extension, open the door to new opportunities for economic and cultural exchange.​

Processing surge puts Government on track to largely eliminate Live-in Caregiver Program backlog by end of 2018December 3, 2017— Toronto, ON – Caregivers and their families will be reunited and the inventory of Live-in Caregiver Program (LCP) applications will be largely eliminated by the end of 2018, thanks to the commitments made today by the Honourable Ahmed Hussen, Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship.Great progress has been made on the backlog in recent years. As of October 1, 2017, there was a 63% reduction in the number of caregivers and their family members waiting for their permanent residence applications to be finalized since reaching its highest level in May 2014.This fall, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) dedicated additional resources to process LCP applications and encourage caregivers and their family members to submit any documents that were missing from their applications. With this focus, IRCC is on track to finalize 5,000 more cases than originally planned by the end of 2017. This surge will allow IRCC to welcome 20,000 new permanent residents in the caregiver category in total this year, reaching the high end of the target range as set out in the 2017 levels plan.Having taken these steps, IRCC is committing to:

Finalizing a minimum of 80% of the cases that were in the LCP inventory as of October 1, 2017 by the end of 2018;

Processing 80% of new, complete LCP applications submitted on or after October 1, 2017 within 12 months; and

Admitting high numbers of LCP caregivers and their family members as permanent residents until the remaining cases are processed.

The multi-year levels plan for 2018-2020 set out targets for the number of permanent resident admissions in the caregiver category that will allow IRCC to meet these commitments.Earlier this year, the Standing Committee on Citizenship and Immigration recommended that the Government deliver a plan to end the backlog of Live-in Caregiver Program applications. With this plan in place, caregivers waiting for their Live-in Caregiver Program applications to be finalized should get decisions on their cases and be reunited with their families soon.​